The first battle of Chargers Camp has been decided as the team waived Kasey Redfern on Monday, effectively naming sixth-round pick Drew Kaser as the team's punter.
However, the rookie explained how he is still in a competition.
"Kasey is a great guy and a great punter," he said. "It's sad to see him leave, but at the same time now I can get more into my place on this team and build off of that. Now I am in a competition with myself. Each day I have to go out there and prove myself. I have to set a goal, and I have to compete with that."
The Texas A&M product was the first punter selected in this year's draft when the Bolts took him 179th overall. He left the Aggies with the second-highest punt averaged (46.2) in NCAA history, and punted 168 times for 7,761 yards including 60 punts placed inside the 20. He set a school record last year with 26 punts over 50.
Clearly, Kaser has the accuracy to pinpoint the ball and the booming leg to unleash one for distance, which is why Head Coach Mike McCoy said the Chargers made the decision this early on to go with the rookie.
"Drew is the guy we wanted moving forward with," McCoy said. "He did a nice job in the practices and the time he has been here. There is a reason we picked him where we did… I like his leg. You want a great kick all the time, and he is going to learn things (with) situational football (and) the way we do things. Seeing the early parts of his career here, (he has) directional kicking plus a really strong leg. We have liked what we have seen so far."
Kaser will now get valuable reps through every preseason game to improve each phase of his game. That does not only include different types of punts, but also getting his timing down as a holder with Mike Windt and Josh Lambo.
"It's huge. I can really get my feet wet and get into a rhythm. It's big to do that with Windt and on those holds with Lambo. It is huge to get my flow going and my rhythm down with everything."
While he aims to perfect his skills, there is one thing he knows he must attain every time he takes the field.
"Consistency," he said. "Honestly, that is the name of this game. That's all punters and kickers can do. You can never work too hard on that because that is the name of the game. And it helps to get comfortable. It took me a couple weeks to get real comfortable in this system during OTAs. Since that, I think I've been doing really well. Each practice I've been building, and getting to where I should be at."
